Equipment failure creates parking headache in Stroudsburg

With a storm bearing down, the Borough of Stroudsburg hit a snow-clearing snag.

JENNA EBERSOLE

With a storm bearing down, the Borough of Stroudsburg hit a snow-clearing snag.

A key piece of equipment broke down earlier this week, and an ordered replacement part could not be delivered through the snow and ice.

For Main Street's Total Home Health Care Inc., that contributed to tricky conditions a day after the storm.

Owner Neil Goldman said snow blocked every parking spot in the area Thursday morning, including a space for the disabled. "We had to turn away a patient in a wheelchair," Goldman said.

Goldman said the borough came to clear the space and a 15-minute parking space after several calls from other customers and the pharmacy. But he said the delay was difficult.

"Nobody could get in and we couldn't get out," he said.

Goldman said lower Main Street often does not get cleared as quickly as other places in town.

But Brian Bond, director of public works for the borough, said an equipment failure came at the worst time.

A snow loader, a kind of industrial snow blower on the front of a wheel loader, was broken. The borough rented a regular loader for the storm, but it extended the cleanup time from 30 seconds to about four minutes for the same amount of snow.

He said the borough's snow-clearing system generally prioritizes major thoroughfares in storms and does not exclude lower Main Street.

"Usually on a regular night when we do have the snow loader, we actually do lower Main prior to Main," he said.

He said crews began a shift at 6 p.m. Wednesday and worked through the night, slowed by the amount of snow and missing equipment. "We just couldn't get down to where he was at," he said.

The county also requested the borough prioritize the area at the courthouse, given that jazz musician Jesse Green's trial was scheduled for Thursday morning.

Bond said the borough has only one, $190,000 snow loader, and it dates to 1996. Equipment available today operates better and faster.

"We're hoping within the next three to five years to have a new snow loader," he said.

With storms, residents also often have complaints about plowed snow blocking shoveled driveways. Bond said one preventative measure is to shovel out an unloading zone to the left of the driveway when facing the street. The clearing makes driveway blockages less likely.

When snow blowing and shoveling, Bond said residents must also be careful not to throw the snow onto the road.

East Stroudsburg Borough Manager Jim Phillips said his municipality receives complaints each snowfall about plowed snow in driveways. Phillips said residents were also calling Thursday morning with a complaint about snow flung onto sidewalks after plowing on North Courtland Street. But the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is actually responsible for that street.

"I think everybody's getting short on patience with winter," he said. "But I'm not sure what we can do about that."